Pacific Collegiate School video

December 2007--U.S. News ranks PCS # 2 public high school in the nation

November 8, 2007--State Superintendent Jack O'Connell nominates PCS to be a national Blue Ribbon School

May 21, 2007-- Newsweek recognizes PCS as among America's "Public Elite" High Schools

2007 California Distinguished School

2007- College Board names PCS  top AP World History program in the US.

2006 -California Charter School of the Year

                          PCS--A School that Challenges and Rewards:

Pacific Collegiate School ’s mission is to provide exemplary, standards- based college preparatory and fine arts education for public middle and high school students of Santa Cruz County and bordering areas.  Our vision is to offer any student the same quality of education offered by the most academically distinguished schools in California .  Our graduates will be prepared to enter and thrive at the world’s finest colleges and universities.

In addition to a core college preparatory curriculum, Pacific Collegiate School will emphasize international, cross-cultural, and technological education in order to prepare graduates for life in the 21st Century.  Pacific Collegiate students will be introduced to the rich variety of world cultures and become fluent in at least one foreign language.  They will become proficient in the basic information technologies essential for cultural literacy in the 21st Century.

Dear PCS families,

May at PCS means several things: BASH, AP testing, finalizing community service, budget adoption, and getting ready for graduation and the beginning of school in August.

• Language survey: The charter describes our commitment to four languages but does not specify which four we should offer. We've prepared a survey for parents, alumni, students, and faculty/staff to weigh in on language preferences. The survey takes about one minute and you can link to it here.
• BASH was a wonderfully fun event and a great success, thanks to the event team led by Susan Condit and Paula Haller. Thank you to auctioneer, Steve Mandel who created excitement around prizes generating interactions with our teachers: dinner and a show with Hal Hansen and Tara Firenzi; shoe shopping with Jessica Barbata, Emily Bolton, and Cheryl Samios; and surf lessons with Darrell Steely, Cheryl Samios, Simon Fletcher and Randy Garrett. BASH is the major PVA fundraiser and "friendraiser" for the year.
• AP tests began today, and students are hard at work getting ready. Balancing and structuring time during this window is extremely important.  Turn off the TV at 10 pm, watch the junk food, and make sure you get a good night's sleep. Successful students are able to organize their study time around the items they need help with, rather than trying to revisit an entire year's course in a few days.
• Cheryl Samios has prepared a community service report to date. There are many fascinating and transforming activities for students, and also almost 100 students who have not turned in their logs. Please work together to get credit for everything you did. We're verifying logs and 7,9,and 11th graders are writing or presenting in class to give a more complete picture of service activities. The 11th grade project leads right to a college admissions essay based on the experience.
• We have a draft budget going to the board for discussion this week, then three weeks of review and polishing before final adoption. As soon as it goes out, I'll post the draft and a powerpoint budget narrative on this page for easy access.
• Take Note: Beach Day and awards assembly will be Friday May 23, and graduation is June 6--at 1 pm for 8th grade and 5 pm for 12th grade.
• In January the administrative and office team met to set goals and think about how we could improve our operations. The goal is to be as recognized for the internal quality and operations as we are admired for our academic excellence. To that end we've worked for four months, along with consultants Shareen Bell and Lisa Fraser, and with their help there is a package of recommendations to the board this week. Stay tuned for more. . .

The action never stops here at PCS.  PLease come by to join one of these efforts and make our school a better place.

Sincerely,

Andrew Goldenkranz

PCS Principal/Superintendent